Falling in Place

Wayne Ray is president of the Canadian Poetry Association and author of
Giants of the North.

This collection of well-crafted slice-of-life prose and poems holds the
reader’s attention from start to finish. There are dreamlike
interludes (“It was difficult learning to breathe. But it was even
more difficult learning to forget. Though in the end I learned both to
breathe and forget. Sometimes I juggle one orange while I do this.
Breathe and forget ...”) and episodes of stark reality (“The way
George died at 86. In a room full of dusty model ships that he had built
to beat the boredom. In April I pry George’s window open so he can
breathe. I wipe his ass. I iron his shirt ... I laugh with him. But I do
not mention hope”). There is an escape into dark humor in a chapter
entitled “Scabb in the Deep.” Scabb is introduced in the first poem:
“Scabb limps says / it is a fact of life / having jumped out the
window / on the 7th floor / of the McClaren Hotel / hitting the marquee
/ on the way down.” This collection, the poet’s second, is deserving
of a wide audience.